Effect of Teacher’s Professional Development on The Teachers’ Instructional Practices in Special Education

The study was performed to see the effect of Teachers' Professional Development on the Teacher's Instructional Practices in Special Education. The aims of this research include exploring the use of special education teacher instructional practices in schools and studying the influence of professional development on instructional practices of teachers. The study was quantitative in nature and used a self-developed survey for the collection of data from respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The result indicates that instructional practices differ on the basis of gender; however, qualification has no influence on instructional practices. Moreover, the distance (division)of respondents, duration of training did not affect the professional development of respondents. Moreover, professional development had a direct relationship with the instructional practices in special education.

Improving 21st-century teaching skills: The key to effective 21st-century learners

The development of competencies known as 21st-century skills are garnering increasing attention as a means of improving teacher instructional quality. However, a key challenge in bringing about desired improvements lies in the lack of context-specific understanding of teaching practices and meaningful ways of supporting teacher professional development. This paper focuses on the need to measure the social quality of teaching processes in a contextualized manner. We do so by highlighting the efforts made to develop and measure teacher practices and classroom processes using the Teacher Instructional Practices and Processes System© (TIPPS) in three different contexts: Uganda (secondary), India (primary), and Ghana (pre-school). By examining how such a tool can be used for teacher feedback, reflective practice, and continuous improvement, the hope is to pave the way toward enhanced 21st-century teacher skills and, in turn, 21st-century learners.

Structural Validity of the Professional Development Profile of the LoTi Digital-Age Survey

The present study was used to examine the structural construct validity of the Professional Development Profile of the LoTi Digital-Age Survey, a measure of teacher instructional practices with technology in the classroom. Teacher responses ( N = 2,840) from across the United States were used to assess factor structure of the instrument using exploratory and confirmatory analyses. Parallel analysis suggests retaining a five-factor solution compared to the MAP test that suggests retaining a three-factor solution. Both analyses (EFA and CFA) indicate a revised factor structure, also known as the Professional Development Profile, of the survey. Two hypothesized factors were composed of items that did not cover or accurately measure the content of traits purported to be assessed. Problematic items, such as items with cross-loadings, are discussed and suggestions for item retention and conceptualization of the structure of the instrument.